WARRINGTON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS STRATEGIC PLAN 2017-2022 - January 6, 2017 Ratified by the WCB Faculty
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WARRINGTON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
STRATEGIC PLAN 2017—2022
January 6, 2017
Ratified by the WCB Faculty
January 17, 2017
Executive Summary
Background
The University of Florida has been designated a state “preeminent” university by the Florida
Legislature. It is one of sixty-two members of the Association of American Universities (AAU)
and the only AAU University in Florida. The University employs over 4,000 faculty members
and has a total enrollment of approximately 50,000 students. UF boasts a 97% freshman
retention rate and more than $700M in research awards. In 2016, U.S. News & World Report
ranked UF #47 among national universities and #14 among public universities.
In 2015-16, the Warrington College of Business conferred a total of 2,187 degrees consisting of
1,003 in-resident undergraduate degrees; 128 online undergraduate degrees, 578 specialized
master’s degrees; 463 degrees across the various formats of the MBA program; and 15 Ph.D.
degrees (attachment #1). The DBA program will graduate its first cohort in 2017. The College
has a total of 102 faculty members, of which 69 are tenured/tenure-track faculty and 33 are
clinical faculty or lecturers. The College has been on a strong upward trajectory in recent years,
building a research faculty in which four of the five departments in the College are ranked in the
top 5 among public universities based on Academic Analytics data (attachment #2). Among
public universities, U.S. News ranks the College’s Heavener School as #18 for undergraduate
business programs, the full-time MBA program in the Hough Graduate School as #16 for
graduate business programs, and the Fisher School of Accounting as #7. The online MBA
program is ranked 1st among U.S. universities by the Financial Times and is ranked 4th in the
nation by U.S. News.
Situation Analysis
Our current environment is characterized by several threats and opportunities (see Table 1). The
key opportunity is our location in the state of Florida. With 18 million people, the nation’s third
largest College-age population, a limited supply of higher education options and limited quality
competition, Florida affords us a significant pool of high-quality applicants for the
undergraduate, specialized masters, and working professional programs. At the undergraduate
level, 95% of our incoming freshmen are from Florida, whereas the percentage of Florida
residents in our graduate programs is approximately 75%. Undergraduates, specialized masters
and weekend professional MBA students are attracted by the high value of our degrees and our
pre-eminent academic standing within Florida.
In addition, the shift in student demand nationally from the traditional MBA to working
professional degree programs has produced a significant opportunity for our non-resident degree
programs. Rapid improvements in instructional technology and increasing student acceptance of
online learning models play to our experience and capabilities in the use of the electronic
platform and web-based curricula. These non-resident programs are a key component in our
resource strategy. Finally, the large and loyal Gator alumni base represents a valuable pool of
potential donors.
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The environment also is fraught with threats. The rapid growth in enrollments, combined with
extremely low in-state tuition and a tightening state higher education budget, has resulted in
sharp decreases in state support per student. This lack of funding, particularly at the
undergraduate level, has been offset by private support and by the non-state funded working
professional degree programs, but those programs are facing increased competition from out-of-
state universities. In addition, the Board of Governors has put a freeze on the creation of new
market rate programs and on tuition charged by existing programs. A second major threat is the
state economy and tax structure. The economy, based on tourism and services, has been among
the hardest-hit in the nation by the recent recession and collapse of the housing market. Florida’s
tax structure, based primarily on sales taxes, produces considerable volatility in state support.
Third, several events inside the University but outside our control have compromised our
resources. The College successfully qualified for Courtelis funding for Hough Hall, but the State
did not fund the $10M match. This has created an annual carrying cost of $621,000 per year.
The State also did not fund $23M in endowment matches. This represents $828,000 in lost
annual revenue. Additionally, the annual carrying cost on Heavener Hall is about $770,000. The
establishment of the UFOnline program absorbed our Online BSBA program, resulting in an
annual loss of $1.1M in incremental revenue at the undergraduate level. Finally, the University’s
new budget model produces a shortfall of $1.9M less than tuition revenue generated (excluding
plant operations and maintenance). The total impact of these actions is an annual loss of
approximately $5.2M.
An ongoing major threat is the University subvention of state funding and tuition revenues
generated by the College (i.e., the redirecting of revenues generated by College instructional
activities to support other colleges). This subvention, coupled with an expensive research faculty,
creates a significant cost gap, particularly at the undergraduate level. To close the gap we have
lowered costs via electronic platform delivery, minimized the number of business classes taken
in the degree, and, where possible, substituted graduate for undergraduate credits in our degree
programs. We have also used lecturers, post docs, and Ph.D. students to teach at the
undergraduate level, but not excessively. Attachment #3 provides a summary of the College’s
inflows and outflows. Note that a significant percentage of the College’s resources come from
non-state activities.
We currently benchmark our performance against a peer group of ten public business schools
(see Attachment #4), and we have an aspirational group of three schools within this group (UC-
Berkeley, University of Michigan, and UNC-Chapel Hill). Based on rankings and other peer
comparisons, we are a solid member of our peer group, except in faculty size where we are the
smallest, and undergraduate program size, where we are among the largest (see Attachment #5).
In an industry of constant change and innovation we have remained ahead of the curve. Our
major strengths are a high quality research faculty, first-rate students, loyal and supportive
alumni, and an excellent staff. Other strengths are our utilization of technology and our resultant
ability to achieve significant scale in accessibility to our curricula, a vibrant research culture,
non-state revenue generation capabilities, specialized masters and working professional degree
programs, outstanding facilities, and tenacious development activity. We have developed
resources from self-funded programs and endowments that are more than double our university
budget. We have gotten to this point by shrinking the size of the faculty, investing in research,
expanding staff, significantly improving student and career services at both the undergraduate
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and graduate levels, and making tradeoffs that focus on becoming better, not bigger. These
tradeoffs have improved our competitive position relative to our peers.
Our weaknesses are extremely low tuition, a university-allocated state budget that is lower than
the tuition we generate, the lowest funding per degree in our peer group, the smallest faculty size
and highest number of degrees per faculty in our peer group, very large undergraduate
enrollments, a need for faculty renewal across all departments, and over-reliance on self-funded
MBA programs to generate necessary operating revenue. Finally, the Ph.D. program is under
severe resource pressure.
Mission Statement
The College’s mission statement is integral to our strategic decisions. Our mission was
considered carefully during the planning cycle leading up to the 2013—2018 strategic plan. In
this planning cycle, the strategic planning committee revisited the mission statement, ultimately
crafting the current one:
To strengthen society by creating influential research and fostering an inclusive lifelong
learning community that educates and supports tomorrow’s business and academic
leaders.
Our mission reflects the Warrington College commitment to inclusiveness in terms of students,
faculty, staff, and students, as well as our intent to instill an ethic of lifelong learning among our
students. The mission also reflects the importance we place on our doctoral programs in
developing scholar-educators who will be the faculty of the future.
Strategic Themes
In order to guide pursuit of the College mission, three broad strategic themes were identified.
Each of these themes comprises numerous important objectives. The first two themes reflect our
teaching and research activities, while the third represents the enabling condition of a sufficient
resource base. Without an adequate resource base and definitive financial incentive model from
the central administration, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to pursue our substantive agenda.
Theme 1: Invest in intellectual capital
Theme 2: Deliver high-quality academic programs that produce graduates who benefit
employers and society
Theme 3: Build and manage sustainable financial and resource strength
Our three strategic themes are summarized below, together with their associated objectives. In
all instances, detailed metrics will be used to rack performance against our stated objectives.
Theme 1: Invest in intellectual capital
Theme 1 reflects our primary function of generating important new knowledge through the
scholarly research conducted by our faculty and Ph.D. students. Already highly ranked
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nationally, we are striving to continually enhance our scholarly productivity, impact, and thought
leadership. Several specific objectives are directly related to this strategic theme:
• Attract and retain highly productive scholars.
• Maintain faculty research support at or above peer school levels.
• Achieve Top-10 rankings across all business disciplines in research productivity and
impact.
• Establish faculty leadership that defines WCB as a center of influence (e.g.,
publications and conference presentations, journal editorships, awards).
• Increase resources devoted to Ph.D. program to improve recruitment and placement.
• Increase average annual number of top-tier journal publications authored by Ph.D.
students.
• Increase placement of Ph.D. graduates in AAU and Carnegie Very High Activity
Research Universities or equivalent.
• Increase demographic and geographic diversity of faculty and Ph.D. students.
Theme 2: Deliver high-quality academic programs that produce graduates who benefit
employers and society
Theme 2 embraces the wide variety of instructional curricula we offer at the undergraduate,
graduate and doctoral levels. Not only traditional on-campus programs, but also working
professional and online curricula, are cornerstones of our instructional efforts. We seek to build
on our current strong national rankings across all programs, with special emphasis on
instructional technology and career services. Moving forward, the College is committed to
investing in enhanced job placement for all graduate and undergraduate programs. Specific
objectives related to this theme include:
• Increase the quality of incoming students across all graduate and undergraduate
programs.
• Increase demographic and geographic diversity of students.
• Increase percent of graduates with high quality post-graduation plans (i.e., employment,
graduate school, or professional school).
• Benchmark placements at graduation and 3-months-out against Top 30 peer and
aspirational programs.
• Strengthen rigor of student and faculty-peer teaching evaluation process.
• Increase interpersonal skills training and experiential learning for students.
• Be a market leader in the use of instructional technology.
• Maintain and upgrade high quality facilities for faculty and students.
Theme 3: Build and manage sustainable financial and resource strength
Theme 3 describes our efforts to generate and deploy the financial resources necessary to pursue
Themes 1 and 2 successfully. In addition to robust development activities, which tend to have
more of a long-term than short-term payoff, the College has identified a number of curricular
adjustments that, if successful, will generate the necessary operating capital. In essence, these
adjustments entail “rightsizing” the costly undergraduate BSBA program and expanding our
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more profitable graduate programs. Specific objectives include:
• Fill all WPMBA cohorts to capacity.
• Expand online undergraduate enrollment.
• Expand number of business minors.
• Increase specialized master’s programs by 120 – 150 additional students.
• Expand number of combined undergraduate/specialized master’s degrees.
• Increase total graduate degrees produced, across programs.
• Generate more than 1000 undergraduate degrees annually across the BSBA, BABA,
and Online BSBA programs.
• Downsize on-campus BSBA program to 400 degrees annually.
• Increase total donations 15% year over year.
• Increase alumni annual giving participation rate to 6%.
• Improve financial performance by aligning cost and revenue mix across programs.
Strategic Vision: The Next Five Years
In order to pursue the objectives outlined in the preceding section, a multi-faceted strategy is
required. Some aspects of the strategy presented in this section are continuations and
enhancements of ongoing efforts (e.g., scholarly research, Ph.D. education, MBA, and online
curricula), while others—most notably the budget strategy and its associated curricular
adjustments—are substantial departures from the current modus operandi.
The next five years are critical to the College. Of course, the “elephant in the room” is the
impending retirement of Dean John Kraft, after 27 years of exceptional leadership. Although
Professor Kraft will remain on the faculty, attracting a first-rate academic leader with the vision
and passion for leading the College to preeminent status is essential if we are to build on the
foundation that has been established.
Our strategic vision is predicated on three assumptions: (1) the University is committed to
implementing, and maintaining over time, the new graduate tuition model recently announced;
(2) the University will perceive the wisdom in our intended “rightsizing’ of our costly on-campus
BSBA program to bring it more in line with our aspirant preeminent universities; and (3) the
University will afford us the freedom to manage our career services (i.e., placement) in a fashion
that more effectively serves our students and prospective employers. A rightsized BSBA
program and improved placement are critical for moving the College into preeminence.
Two other factors are pertinent. First, the College will be launching our fourth capital campaign,
with a goal of $250M. At present, we have an endowment of $180M and $170M in deferred
gifts and estate gifts. These resources will provide considerable enhancements to our current
faculty and programs. Second, the University is embarking on a major thrust to become
preeminent and achieve top 10 and, eventually, top 5 status among public universities. However,
it is unlikely that this initiative will result in the College gleaning new resources from the
University. This assumption is based on two facts: a) the University has invested only $900,000
in permanent budget growth for the College over the last 27 years; and b) the College has
received no funding from the University for preeminence positions. Despite these resource
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deficits, we are in a position to effectively move towards top 5 status among public university
business schools. At this point we are part of a set of 10 public university business schools that
could be considered among the top (see attachment #4). Over the next five years we have the
ability to enhance our resources, improve relative to our peers and begin to benchmark
successfully against our aspirant schools: Michigan, UC-Berkeley, and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Attachment #5 compares our current resources against a select group of public and private
aspirant schools. On a number of metrics, we are competitive with this group. One key
unfavorable comparison is our undergraduate program size relative to our aspirant group. Our
BSBA program is more than twice the size of those of our aspirants (approximately 900 degrees
per year versus an average of 400 degrees per year for our peers). Another issue is resources.
We need about $2.5 to $3.0M in incremental funding to invest in faculty research, enrich our
Ph.D. program, add new technology, and enhance our brand.
Attachment #6 compares the College with the current UF goals and objectives. Meeting these
goals requires expanding on-campus graduate degrees by 120 to 150 degrees per year in the
specialized master’s programs. This growth would generate $2.8 to $3.2M in incremental
revenue, which is feasible under the new university budget model (attachment #7). Under the
new model the College will keep all graduate tuition (both in- and out-of-state), currently
totaling $14.4M. At the undergraduate level we will keep in-state tuition ($11.4M) but not the
out-of-state tuition increment (approximately $4.0M). This model creates the opportunity to
expand our resources and at the same time improve the quality and selectivity of our business
graduates, which will result in better placements. We will be in a more competitive position
relative to our public aspirant schools (UNC, Berkeley, and Michigan), which have greater
selectivity and a better support ratio. By redeploying our faculty resources to expand graduate
enrollments while shrinking the on-campus BSBA program, we can generate the $2.5 to $3.0M
needed to invest in faculty and staff enhancement, the Ph.D. program, technology, and branding.
If we are going to benchmark against our aspirant schools, we need to make the critical
investments in order to effectively compete in this group. Given our current resource deficit, the
College is waging an uphill battle simply to achieve resource parity with our chief competitors.
We could achieve our lofty preeminence goals more readily and more quickly if we were able to
garner from the University a more equitable share of the revenues we generate through our
instructional programs.
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STRATEGIC PLAN 2017—2022
Background
The University of Florida has been designated a state “preeminent” university by the Florida
Legislature. It is one of sixty-two members of the Association of American Universities (AAU)
and the only AAU University in Florida. The University employs over 4,000 faculty members
and has a total enrollment of approximately 50,000 students. UF boasts a 97% freshman
retention rate and more than $700M in research awards. In 2016, U.S. News & World Report
ranked UF #47 among national universities and #14 among public universities.
In 2015-16, the Warrington College of Business conferred a total of 2,187 degrees consisting of
1,003 in-resident undergraduate degrees; 128 online undergraduate degrees, 578 specialized
master’s degrees; 463 degrees across the various formats of the MBA program; and 15 Ph.D.
degrees (attachment #1). The DBA program will graduate its first cohort in 2017. The College
has a total of 102 faculty members, of which 69 are tenured/tenure-track faculty and 33 are
clinical faculty or lecturers. The College has been on a strong upward trajectory in recent years,
building a research faculty in which four of the five departments in the College are ranked in the
top 5 among public universities based on Academic Analytics data (attachment #2). Among
public universities, U.S. News ranks the College’s Heavener School as #18 for undergraduate
business programs, the full-time MBA program in the Hough Graduate School as #16 for
graduate business programs, and the Fisher School of Accounting as #7. The online MBA
program is ranked 1st among U.S. universities by the Financial Times and is ranked 4th in the
nation by U.S. News.
History
The College of Business at the University of Florida was founded in 1926. In 1982, the School of
Accounting was established and subsequently named the Fisher School of Accounting. This was
the first of several events that propelled the College into its current status as a top 20 business
college among public universities. The second major event was the establishment of the Eminent
Scholars Program in the 1980s made possible through the state university matching gift program.
The Eminent Scholars Program resulted in the eventual establishment of endowed chairs that
allowed the College to attract outstanding faculty who became the core of the College’s senior
faculty for the next twenty-five years.
The College’s investment in technology and commitment to providing a quality business
education to the global community has established the College as a leader in distance learning.
The College was an early adopter of online education, and launched its Online MBA—then
known as the FlexMBA—in 1999. The College’s pioneering Online MBA program remains
widely known and recognized for its value. The Financial Times ranked UF MBA’s Online
Program No. 3 in the world and No. 1 in the U.S. in its “Online MBA 2016 Rankings.” The
College was also an early mover in the creation of specialized master’s degrees, with a focus in
the early 2000s on building and delivering specialized master’s degrees that met the needs of
students and the demands of the job market.
When AACSB International estimated that the U.S. would have a doctoral faculty shortage of
approximately 2,500 PhDs by 2012, the College was one of the few schools in the world to take
1
immediate action. Warrington instituted the Post-Doctoral Bridge (PDB) Program, which
prepares scholars from non-business disciplines for teaching and research careers in business
schools. Since the program’s debut in 2008, 153 participants have successfully completed the
program and gained SA (Scholarly Academic) faculty status.
The College’s innovation in doctoral education continued in 2014 with the addition of the Doctor
of Business Administration (DBA) program, a professional doctorate that emphasizes the
application of theory to practical business issues allowing professionals to pursue careers in
higher education, consulting, or a return to their field. This program complements the College’s
long standing and successful Ph.D. program, which focuses on developing the next generation of
academic researchers and teachers. Warrington College is only one of two business schools in
the world with this breadth of doctoral level offerings (Ph.D. and DBA).
Over the past two decades, the College has produced an exemplary track record in fundraising.
In the mid-1990s, the College was named the Warrington College of Business, and in the early
2000s, the first of two privately funded buildings (Gerson Hall, home of the Fisher School of
Accounting) was constructed. In 2006, the Hough Graduate School of Business was established,
and planning began for Hough Hall. In 2007, the UF Trustees approved the organization of the
Warrington College of Business into three schools: the Fisher School of Accounting, the Hough
Graduate School of Business, and the (undergraduate) School of Business. These three schools
manage the College’s academic degree programs. In 2012, the Heavener School of Business was
endowed. The construction of Heavener Hall, which houses the College’s undergraduate
programs, was completed in 2014.
Academics
Students can earn bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in the College’s five departments:
• Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
• Information Systems and Operations Management
• Management
• Marketing
• Accounting
At the undergraduate level, the Heavener School of Business offers:
• Bachelor of Science degrees with majors in Finance, Information Systems,
Management and Marketing; a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Studies; an Online
degree in General Business, and minors in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship,
Information Systems, Real Estate and Retailing.
At the undergraduate level, the Fisher School of Accounting offers:
• Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a minor in Accounting.
At the graduate level, the College’s MBA program currently offers:
• A full-time MBA (FTMBA) and six working professional programs. The working
professional MBA offerings include one- and two-year program options, depending on
2
the applicant’s undergraduate degree and background. There are two delivery
platforms: a weekend residency platform (Professional, Executive and South Florida
MBA programs) and a distance platform (Online MBA programs). In addition, the
College collaborates with the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering to offer the
Outreach Engineering Management degree to working professionals.
The Warrington College of Business and the Fisher School of Accounting also offer eight
specialized Master’s programs:
• MS in Finance (MSF) and MS in Real Estate (MSRE) via the Finance, Insurance and
Real Estate department.
• Master of International Business (MIB) and MS in Management (MSM) via the
Hough Graduate School of Business.
• MS in Information Systems and Operations Management (MS ISOM) via the ISOM
Department.
• MS in Entrepreneurship (MSE) via the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Finance
Department and;
• Master of Accounting (MAcc) and JD/MAcc via the Fisher School of Accounting
At the doctoral level, the College offers:
• Ph.D. in Accounting, Finance, Real Estate, Information Systems and Operations
Management, Management, and Marketing.
• Doctor of Business Administration.
The Warrington College Community
Faculty
A talented faculty truly elevates the Warrington College into prominence. The College has a total
of 102 faculty members, of which 69 are tenured/tenure-track faculty and 33 are clinical faculty
or lecturers. Forty percent of the faculty have international backgrounds. The scholarly
excellence of the faculty is reflected in various rankings. For example within the Academic
Analytics Database, which provides discipline-specific benchmarks of scholarly activity, four of
the five departments in the College are ranked in the top 5 in comparison to corresponding
departments at other public AAU universities.
Students
In 2015-16, the College produced 2,187 degrees. The College has a strong history of placing its
Ph.D. graduates in the top AAU and research universities. For MBA placements, 85 percent of
students have job offers at the time of graduation, and 95 percent of students have job offers
three months after graduation. Virtually all Fisher School MAcc graduates have full-time job
offers at the time of graduation (98 percent).
3The College prides itself on offering students inventive academic and professional resources:
• The Capital Markets Lab with Bloomberg Terminals, Thompson DataStream, Reuters,
and a wide spectrum of real business applications that provides finance students with a
professional environment mirroring what they will encounter working for investment
firms on Wall Street.
• The Active Learning Studio combines students’ increasing use of technology with
collaborative learning—two elements that are significant to the education of today’s
college students.
• In 2017-18, the College will create a light board studio to enhance our electronic
platform teaching.
• Heavener Hall’s Discovery Cube offers online behavioral tests that aid students in
discovering their personal and professional strengths and the career fields most
conducive to their success.
• The Career & Leadership Program instills dynamic leadership skills in its
undergraduate students. This has been achieved through the establishment of
innovative programs and activities involving peer-to-peer mentoring, community
service, and career assistance.
• The College is making career placement of all students a major priority over the next 5
years.
More recently, the College has taken steps to further increase the quality of the undergraduate
experience. The newly constructed Heavener Hall, which houses the undergraduate programs, is
instrumental in this effort. Heavener Hall includes nine contemporary classrooms, an open
Commons for impromptu collaboration, 16 intimate study rooms, a larger, multi-purpose area for
events and organization meetings, academic advising space, a technology assistance center,
office/meeting space for Heavener School of Business staff, and a small café. Unifying these
instructional spaces, student services, and social areas in a single location enhances the learning
experiences of the College’s undergraduate students and provides them with a greater sense of
community.
In an effort to connect students and employers, the Heavener School of Business began to host
the Heavener Career Week in 2015. The three-day event hosts more than 20 information sessions
from companies including Deloitte, Disney, Fisher Investments, Google, Johnson & Johnson,
Norfolk Southern, Procter & Gamble, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Target, and Wells Fargo.
Topics discussed during the information sessions range from career paths to diversity in the
workforce, interviewing, and company culture.
Corporate and Community Engagement
The College has the support of a robust and engaged Business Advisory Council, which consists
of over 50 members. The members include Warrington alumni, corporate executives from the
Southeast and beyond, influential members of the local business community, and emeriti and
4current members of the College’s administration. Several other programs have active advisory
boards, including Accounting, Real Estate, Retailing and Entrepreneurship.
The College also has a significant role in UF’s engagement with the business community. Last
year, UF, Warrington College, and the College’s Center of Entrepreneurship presented the
inaugural Gator100, which recognizes the fastest-growing businesses owned or led by UF
alumni. Fifteen of UF’s 16 colleges were represented in the Gator100, led by Warrington, with
41 companies appearing on the list—including seven in the top 10.
Research Centers
Warrington College’s 11 research centers are dedicated to producing influential research that
provides thought leadership to academic, business, and governmental organizations globally:
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center
The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center was created to teach, coach, and inspire students to
be entrepreneurial in their lives. Through courses, degree programs, and complementary
activities such as speakers, workshops, and a student business incubator, the Center currently
serves more than 2,000 students per year. Partnering with other colleges at the University, the
Center delivers introductory and specialized courses at both the graduate and undergraduate
levels and offers every graduate student at the University of Florida the option to earn a graduate
minor in entrepreneurship. In addition, the Center offers the nation’s most comprehensive
specialized degree program focused on entrepreneurship, the Thomas S. Johnson
Entrepreneurship Master’s Program.
• Center for International Economic & Business Studies
The Center for International Economics and Business Studies seeks to expand knowledge of and
appreciation for the global business environment by faculty and students of the Warrington
College of Business and the broader UF community through interactions with international
students and faculty members, research on the international dimensions of the various functional
areas, and opportunities to travel and work abroad.
• Management Communication Center
The Center for Management Communication aims to equip undergraduates and graduates in
business with the strong communication skills they require to succeed in today’s information
economy. The Center’s courses integrate the latest research to examine methods for presenting
information persuasively, addressing diverse audiences, and adapting messages to suit a
spectrum of technological demands.
• Supply Chain Management Center
The Center for Supply Chain Management (CSCM) has the primary focuses of development,
direction, and productivity: Establishing an industry forum of partner organizations so as to
facilitate a formal internship program for UF students interested in SCM, identify issues of
practical industrial relevance that can be addressed jointly with UF students and faculty, and
organize a joint annual workshop in SCM.
5• Teaching & Learning Center
The Teaching & Learning Center is dedicated to the support and enhancement of quality in the
College’s courses and degree programs. The College also provides support through the Center to
faculty in developing and maintaining a robust assessment plan to ensure continuous learning.
• David F. Miller Retail Center
The Retail Center undertakes a broad range of activities, including developing retail education
programs for undergraduates, stimulating student interest in retail careers, offering continuing
education programs, hosting conferences, sponsoring workshops and seminars, serving as an
international resource center for retailing, and conducting research on issues of importance to the
industry.
• Elizabeth B. & William F. Poe, Sr. Business Ethics Center
The goals of the Poe Center are threefold: to increase the visibility of ethical issues among
business students; to provide forums for thoughtful analysis of important ethical problems in
business; and to influence students to become competent and responsible business citizens.
• Human Resource Research Center
The purpose of the Center is to contribute to both the science and the profession of human
resource management by supporting educational programs and research that focus on factors that
affect human performance in work settings in ways that have practical implications for
management.
• International Center for Research in Accounting and Auditing
The mission of the Center is to advance the overall academic and educational goals of the Fisher
School of Accounting on an international level. As such, the Center undertakes activities to bring
a broader international focus to the programs and research efforts of the School while increasing
the global visibility of the School's faculty, students, and scholarship.
• Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center
The Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center at the University of Florida has been cultivating the
exchange of education and information among real estate researchers, academics, students, and
industry leaders for more than 30 years.
• Public Utility Research Center
PURC is an internationally recognized academic center dedicated to research and to providing
training in utility regulation and strategy, as well as the development of leadership in
infrastructure policy. The Center’s training programs teach the principles and practices that
support effective utility policy, regulation, management, and leadership. With these tools,
government and industry officials develop efficient utility infrastructure to better meet the needs
of their customers.
6Situation Analysis
Our current environment is characterized by several threats and opportunities (see Table 1). The
key opportunity is our location in the state of Florida. With 18 million people, the nation’s third
largest College-age population, a limited supply of higher education options and limited quality
competition, Florida affords us a significant pool of high-quality applicants for the
undergraduate, specialized masters, and working professional programs. At the undergraduate
level, 95% of our incoming freshmen are from Florida, whereas the percentage of Florida
residents in our graduate programs is approximately 75%. Undergraduates, specialized masters
and weekend professional MBA students are attracted by the high value of our degrees and our
pre-eminent academic standing within Florida.
In addition, the shift in student demand nationally from the traditional MBA to working
professional degree programs has produced a significant opportunity for our non-resident degree
programs. Rapid improvements in instructional technology and increasing student acceptance of
online learning models play to our experience and capabilities in the use of the electronic
platform and web-based curricula. These non-resident programs are a key component in our
resource strategy. Finally, the large and loyal Gator alumni base represents a valuable pool of
potential donors.
The environment also is fraught with threats. The rapid growth in enrollments, combined with
extremely low in-state tuition and a tightening state higher education budget, has resulted in
sharp decreases in state support per student. This lack of funding, particularly at the
undergraduate level, has been offset by private support and by the non-state funded working
professional degree programs, but those programs are facing increased competition from out-of-
state universities. In addition, the Board of Governors has put a freeze on the creation of new
market rate programs and on tuition charged by existing programs. A second major threat is the
state economy and tax structure. The economy, based on tourism and services, has been among
the hardest-hit in the nation by the recent recession and collapse of the housing market. Florida’s
tax structure, based primarily on sales taxes, produces considerable volatility in state support.
Third, several events inside the University but outside our control have compromised our
resources. The College successfully qualified for Courtelis funding for Hough Hall, but the State
did not fund the $10M match. This has created an annual carrying cost of $621,000 per year.
The State also did not fund $23M in endowment matches. This represents $828,000 in lost
annual revenue. Additionally, the annual carrying cost on Heavener Hall is about $770,000. The
establishment of the UFOnline program absorbed our Online BSBA program, resulting in an
annual loss of $1.1M in incremental revenue at the undergraduate level. Finally, the University’s
new budget model produces a shortfall of $1.9M less than tuition revenue generated (excluding
plant operations and maintenance). The total impact of these actions is an annual loss of
approximately $5.2M.
An ongoing major threat is the University subvention of state funding and tuition revenues
generated by the College (i.e., the redirecting of revenues generated by College instructional
activities to support other colleges). This subvention, coupled with an expensive research faculty,
creates a significant cost gap, particularly at the undergraduate level. To close the gap we have
lowered costs via electronic platform delivery, minimized the number of business classes taken
in the degree, and, where possible, substituted graduate for undergraduate credits in our degree
programs. We have also used lecturers, post docs, and Ph.D. students to teach at the
undergraduate level, but not excessively. Attachment #3 provides a summary of the College’s
7inflows and outflows. Note that a significant percentage of the College’s resources come from
non-state activities.
We currently benchmark our performance against a peer group of ten public business schools
(see Attachment #4), and we have an aspirational group of three schools within this group (UC-
Berkeley, University of Michigan, and UNC-Chapel Hill). Based on rankings and other peer
comparisons, we are a solid member of our peer group, except in faculty size where we are the
smallest, and undergraduate program size, where we are among the largest (see Attachment #5).
In an industry of constant change and innovation we have remained ahead of the curve. Our
major strengths are a high quality research faculty, first-rate students, loyal and supportive
alumni, and an excellent staff. Other strengths are our utilization of technology and our resultant
ability to achieve significant scale in accessibility to our curricula, a vibrant research culture,
non-state revenue generation capabilities, specialized masters and working professional degree
programs, outstanding facilities, and tenacious development activity. We have developed
resources from self-funded programs and endowments that are more than double our university
budget. We have gotten to this point by shrinking the size of the faculty, investing in research,
expanding staff, significantly improving student and career services at both the undergraduate
and graduate levels, and making tradeoffs that focus on becoming better, not bigger. These
tradeoffs have improved our competitive position relative to our peers.
Our weaknesses are extremely low tuition, a university-allocated state budget that is lower than
the tuition we generate, the lowest funding per degree in our peer group, the smallest faculty size
and highest number of degrees per faculty in our peer group, very large undergraduate
enrollments, a need for faculty renewal across all departments, and over-reliance on self-funded
MBA programs to generate necessary operating revenue. Finally, the Ph.D. program is under
severe resource pressure.
Going forward, the College must continue to be entrepreneurial and seek mechanisms for greater
self-sufficiency.
MISSION STATEMENT
The College’s mission statement is integral to our strategic decisions. Our mission was
considered carefully during the planning cycle leading up to the 2013—2018 strategic plan.
In this planning cycle, the strategic planning committee revisited the mission statement,
ultimately crafting the current one:
To strengthen society by creating influential research and fostering an inclusive lifelong
learning community that educates and supports tomorrow’s business and academic
leaders.
Our mission reflects the Warrington College commitment to inclusiveness in terms of students,
faculty, staff, and students, as well as our intent to instill an ethic of lifelong learning among our
students. The mission also reflects the importance we place on our doctoral programs in
developing scholar-educators who will be the faculty of the future.
8STRATEGIC THEMES
In order to guide pursuit of the College mission, three broad strategic themes were identified.
Each of these themes comprises numerous important objectives. The first two themes reflect our
teaching and research activities, while the third represents the enabling condition of a sufficient
resource base. Without an adequate resource base and definitive financial incentive model from
the central administration, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to pursue our substantive agenda.
Theme 1: Invest in intellectual capital
Theme 1 reflects our primary function of generating important new knowledge through the
scholarly research conducted by our faculty and Ph.D. students. Already highly ranked
nationally, we are striving to continually enhance our scholarly productivity, impact, and thought
leadership.
Theme 2: Deliver high-quality academic programs that produce graduates who benefit
employers and society
Theme 2 embraces the wide variety of instructional curricula we offer at the undergraduate,
graduate and doctoral levels. Not only traditional on-campus programs, but also working
professional and online curricula, are cornerstones of our instructional efforts. We seek to build
on our current strong national rankings across all programs, with special emphasis on
instructional technology and career services. Moving forward, the College is committed to
investing in enhanced job placement for all graduate and undergraduate programs.
Theme 3: Build and manage sustainable financial and resource strength
Theme 3 describes our efforts to generate and deploy the financial resources necessary to pursue
Themes 1 and 2 successfully. In addition to robust development activities, which tend to have
more of a long-term than short-term payoff, the College has identified a number of curricular
adjustments that, if successful, will generate the necessary operating capital. In essence, these
adjustments entail “rightsizing” the costly undergraduate BSBA program and expanding our
more profitable graduate programs.
OBJECTIVES
Nested within the three overarching strategic themes are 26 specific objectives the College will
pursue over the next five years. These objectives are displayed below, together with the metrics
that will be used to track progress toward each of the objectives and the individual(s) responsible
for accumulating the pertinent data.
9STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
THEMES
A. Invest in 1. Attract and retain highly productive scholars.
intellectual 2. Maintain faculty research support at or above peer school levels
capital 3. Achieve Top-10 rankings across all business disciplines in research productivity
and impact.
4. Establish faculty leadership that defines WCB as a center of influence (e.g.,
publications and conference presentations, journal editorships, awards)
5. Increase resources devoted to Ph.D. program to improve recruitment and
placement.
6. Increase average annual number of top-tier journal publications authored by
Ph.D. students
7. Increase placement of Ph.D. graduates in AAU and Carnegie Very High Activity
Research Universities or equivalent
8. Increase demographic and geographic diversity of faculty and Ph.D. students
B. Deliver high- 9. Increase the quality of incoming students across all graduate and undergraduate
quality programs.
educational 10. Increase demographic and geographic diversity of students
programs 11. Increase percent of graduates with high quality post-graduation plans (i.e.,
employment, graduate school, or professional school)
12. Benchmark placements at graduation and 3-months-out against Top 30 peer and
aspirational programs
13. Strengthen rigor of student and faculty-peer teaching evaluation process
14. Increase interpersonal skills training and experiential learning for students
15. Be a market leader in the use of instructional technology.
16. Maintain and upgrade high quality facilities for faculty and students.
C. Build and 17. Fill all WPMBA cohorts to capacity
sustain 18. Expand online undergraduate enrollment
financial 19. Expand number of business minors
strength 20. Increase specialized master’s programs by 120 – 150 additional students
21. Expand number of combined undergraduate/specialized master’s degrees
22. Increase total graduate degrees produced, across programs
23. Generate more than 1000 undergraduate degrees annually across the BSBA,
BABA, and Online BSBA programs.
24. Downsize on-campus BSBA program to 400 degrees annually
25. Increase total donations 15% year over year
26. Increase alumni annual giving participation rate to 6%
27. Improve financial performance by aligning cost and revenue mix across
programs.
10METRICS
The following data will be collected for use as metrics in evaluating progress toward meeting the
objectives specified by the Warrington College of Business.
Placement (across ALL programs in the College except Ph.D.)
• % placed at graduation
• % placed 3 months out
• Mean salary
• Mean signing bonus
• # degrees granted
The Director of College Career Services is responsible for providing this data.
Admissions (across ALL graduate programs except Ph.D.)
• # applications
• % acceptance
• Yield rate
• GMAT/GRE
• UGPA
• # years’ work experience
• Pre-program salary (if applicable)
• % female
• % under-represented minorities
• % international
• National rank (where applicable)
• % of program capacity (except TMBA)
• Direct and indirect costs and revenues generated for each program
The Director of each graduate program is responsible for providing this data.
Undergraduate Programs
• SAT scores
• High School/transfer GPA
• # On-campus BSBA majors and degrees annually
• # On-campus BABA majors and degrees annually
• #On-campus BSAC majors and degrees annually
• # UF Online BSBA majors and degrees annually
• # Business Minors enrolled and graduating annually
• # Combined bachelor’s/master’s students and degrees annually
• % of students completing internship and/or study abroad
• % of students involved in professional development activities
• % female
• % under-represented minorities
• % international
The Directors of Fisher School of Accounting and Heavener School of Business are responsible
for providing this data.
11PhD Program
• % of placements at AAU or equivalent institutions
• % of placements at Carnegie or equivalent institutions
• # applications
• % acceptance
• Yield rate
• GMAT/GRE
• UGPA
• % female
• % under-represented minority
• % international
• Average # A or B level publications at graduation
• #/% of faculty publications with current and former Ph.D. students
• Total funding per student (including stipends and expenses)
DBA Program
Although it is premature to specify metrics for our fledging DBA program (now in its third year
of operation), as the program begins to mature, metrics will need to be developed. In addition, a
thorough audit of the costs and benefits of the program vis-à-vis the College mission should be
undertaken.
The Senior Associate Dean or chair of the DBA committee is responsible for providing this data.
Research & Faculty
• # publications in leading journals
• Total number of publications in peer reviewed journals
• # citations (Web of Science)
• Number and amount of summer research grants
• Total funding for research-related activities
• Number of disciplinary, national, and international awards
• Number of highly ranked faculty (e.g. top quartile of their discipline)
• Number of leadership positions in professional organizations
• Number of editorships, associate editorships, editorial boards of top-tier publications
• % female
• % under-represented minority
• % international
The Senior Associate Dean is responsible for collecting faculty and research data, which may be
drawn from both Academic Analytics and Faculty Annual Reports (FAR).
12Outreach and Development
Total dollars received (and net of “principal” $5M+ gifts) by year and rolling average.
Annual giving rate/participation (to WCBA) by WCBA alumni.
Number of planned gifts and total dollars pledged in planned gifts.
Cash flow contributed to the annual budget.
Size of endowment (benchmarked against peers).
The Executive Director of Development and Alumni Affairs is responsible for these data.
Instruction
% of students who respond to Student Evaluations of Teaching.
% of faculty whose teaching is peer reviewed outside of the promotion and tenure
process.
# of online programs and courses offered.
# of undergraduate students in electronic platform courses.
# of graduate and undergraduate students in online courses.
# of courses including content related to the development of interpersonal skills or
experiential learning.
# of extracurricular opportunities aimed at developing interpersonal skills or
providing experiential learning.
The Director of the Teaching and Learning Center is responsible for these data, some of which
may be obtained from the annual FAR report.
In order to pursue the objectives outlined in the preceding section, a multi-faceted strategy is
required. Some aspects of the strategy presented in this section are continuations and
enhancements of ongoing efforts (e.g., scholarly research, Ph.D. education, MBA, and online
curricula), while others—most notably the budget strategy and its associated curricular
adjustments—are substantial departures from the current modus operandi.
The next five years are critical to the College. Of course, the “elephant in the room” is the
impending retirement of Dean John Kraft, after 27 years of exceptional leadership. Although
Professor Kraft will remain on the faculty, attracting a first-rate academic leader with the vision
and passion for leading the College to preeminent status is essential if we are to build on the
foundation that has been established.
Our strategic vision, outlined in the next several pages, is predicated on three assumptions: (1)
the University is committed to implementing, and maintaining over time, the new graduate
tuition model recently announced; (2) the University will perceive the wisdom in our intended
“rightsizing’ of our costly on-campus BSBA program to bring it more in line with our aspirant
preeminent universities; and (3) the University will afford us the freedom to manage our career
services (i.e., placement) in a fashion that more effectively serves our students and prospective
employers. A rightsized BSBA program and improved placement are critical for moving the
College into preeminence.
Two other factors are pertinent. First, the College will be launching our fourth capital campaign,
with a goal of $250M. At present, we have an endowment of $180M and $170M in deferred
gifts and estate gifts. These resources will provide considerable enhancements to our current
13faculty and programs. Second, the University is embarking on a major thrust to become
preeminent and achieve top 10 and, eventually, top 5 status among public universities. However,
it is unlikely that this initiative will result in the College gleaning new resources from the
University. This assumption is based on two facts: a) the University has invested only $900,000
in permanent budget growth for the College over the last 27 years; and b) the College has
received no funding from the University for preeminence positions. Despite these resource
deficits, we are in a position to effectively move towards top 5 status among public university
business schools. At this point we are part of a set of 10 public university business schools that
could be considered among the top (see attachment #4). Over the next five years we have the
ability to enhance our resources, improve relative to our peers and begin to benchmark
successfully against our aspirant schools: Michigan, UC-Berkeley, and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Attachment #5 compares our current resources against a select group of public and private
aspirant schools. On a number of metrics, we are competitive with this group. One key
unfavorable comparison is our undergraduate program size relative to our aspirant group. Our
BSBA program is more than twice the size of those of our aspirants (approximately 900 degrees
per year versus an average of 400 degrees per year for our peers). Another issue is resources.
We need about $2.5 to $3.0M in incremental funding to invest in faculty research, enrich our
Ph.D. program, add new technology, and enhance our brand.
Attachment #6 compares the College with the current UF goals and objectives. Meeting these
goals requires expanding on-campus graduate degrees by 120 to 150 degrees per year in the
specialized master’s programs. This growth would generate $2.8 to $3.2M in incremental
revenue, which is feasible under the new university budget model (attachment #7). Under the
new model the College will keep all graduate tuition (both in- and out-of-state), currently
totaling $14.4M. At the undergraduate level we will keep in-state tuition ($11.4M) but not the
out-of-state tuition increment (approximately $4.0M). This model creates the opportunity to
expand our resources and at the same time improve the quality and selectivity of our business
graduates, which will result in better placements. We will be in a more competitive position
relative to our public aspirant schools (UNC, Berkeley, and Michigan), which have greater
selectivity and a better support ratio. By redeploying our faculty resources to expand graduate
enrollments while shrinking the on-campus BSBA program, we can generate the $2.5 to $3.0M
needed to invest in faculty and staff enhancement, the Ph.D. program, technology, and branding.
If we are going to benchmark against our aspirant schools, we need to make the critical
investments in order to effectively compete in this group. Given our current resource deficit, the
College is waging an uphill battle simply to achieve resource parity with our chief competitors.
We could achieve our lofty preeminence goals more readily and more quickly if we were able to
garner from the University a more equitable share of the revenues we generate through our
instructional programs.
The College has developed a strategy to generate $15.5M to address the funding deficit
(attachment #8). The revenue comes from a combination of $8.8M in annual spendable income
from the Florida Next capital campaign, $3.5M in annual recurring savings from rearranging our
current revenue sources, and $3.2M annual spendable income from deferred endowment
commitments.
1. Faculty Strategy
Consistent with high quality faculty research, we must maintain a Scholarly Academic (SA) ratio
of 75% plus for our total faculty (we are currently at 80%). We have the ability to get better, and
we will have the resources to enhance our position. On the input side we need to focus on
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